Ibrahim Bangura’s 2OT goal earns West Fargo Packers the state boys soccer championship over Fargo Davies – InForum

WEST FARGO — One of the main objectives for the West Fargo boys soccer team this season was to play in the state championship game at home.

They earned that right on Friday after taking down West Region No. 1 seed Minot on a penalty kick goal with 5:18 remaining in regulation.

But once you get to the championship game, why not win it all? The East Region No. 2 Packers did exactly that, taking down juggernaut East No. 1 and defending state champion Fargo Davies 2-1 in a dramatic double-overtime thriller to claim their fifth overall state title and first since 2018.

Junior forward Ibrahim Bangura was the hero for West Fargo, kicking the winner past Eagles senior goalkeeper Esteban Nunez with 1:18 remaining in the second 10-minute overtime period to send his teammates and the Packers’ faithful into a celebratory frenzy.

The chance came on a cross from sophomore midfielder Andrew Knudsvig with the ball coming towards senior midfielder John Ngafua, who headed it over to Bangura to finish off the championship-clinching play.

“It feels good,” Bangura said. “Nobody was expecting us to be here but we’re here.”

Bangura said 100% it was the biggest goal of his life,

“For sure, for sure,” he said. “I wasn’t here last year for soccer, and I’m back so we had to keep it going.”

Senior captain Eli Svenby played a key role on the West Fargo backline all season.

“It’s an unreal feeling,” Svenby said on winning the state championship. “As soon as that goal went in it’s like — you don’t really know how to feel until you experience it really.”

The Packers previously lost to Davies twice in the regular season. The third time proved to be the charm.

“They got us the first two and the third time we knew we had to go hard,” Svenby said. “And we did it. As a team, we put everything we had into that game and left it all on the field.”

The Packers capped off a storybook season with a 13-5-1 record. Davies ended the year 16-1-1, suffering his first loss since Oct. 6, 2020. The Eagles were previously unbeaten in 33 consecutive matches and came up just short of their second state championship in school history.

“West Fargo earned the championship,” Davies head coach Ian Costello said. “They executed their game plan, got one early and we got a lucky one off a goalie deflection. But ultimately, they did what they had to do. So it’s all congrats to West Fargo.”

Costello was voted boys soccer Coach of the Year by the North Dakota High School Coaches Association. Costello said it’s been about determination to succeed that has made the Eagles almost unbeatable over the last two seasons.

“Just that pursuit of something I’ve been telling them which is to never be satisfied,” he said. “They don’t look for mediocrity in anything they do. They fight and they persevere. At the end of the day, it just wasn’t our time.”

The match began with a goal per side, both coming in the first 9-1/2 minutes. Senior midfielder Bernard Musafiri put West Fargo on the board first at the 4 minute, 12 second mark after Ngafua sent a ball into the box from the right-hand side with Musafiri there to put it home.

Davies responded just over five minutes later at 9 minutes, 29 seconds when a shot from senior midfielder Dylan Pritchard was initially saved by West Fargo sophomore goalkeeper Bonfas Loria before senior forward Savey Jones drilled home the rebound for his fourth goal of the tournament.

From that point on, the teams remained deadlocked until Bangura’s winner in the 99th minute.

Both teams had their opportunities late in the game. With just over 30 seconds remaining in regulation, a West Fargo ball fell into the box and an attempt to put it home and give the Packers a win in the waning seconds went off the right post.

Later on, with 35 seconds left in the first OT, a strike from Pritchard had to be fended off by Loria to keep the Packers’ dreams alive.

Shot attempts were unofficially 23-8 in favor of Davies. Loria made seven saves for West Fargo while Nunez — who was named NDHSCA Senior Athlete of the Year — stopped three for the Eagles.

Jones, Pritchard and senior forward Patrick Lawrence were named to the All-Tournament team for Davies, while Loria, Musafiri and senior midfielder Isaac Fitz were All-Tourney selections for West Fargo.

West No. 2 seed Bismarck Legacy topped Minot 2-1 in the third-place game earlier in the day. East No. 4 Grand Forks Red River defeated West no. 4 Bismarck Century 2-1 in the fifth-place game.

West Fargo head coach Andy Foss said the team is special because it is all about buy-in, bending without breaking and heart.

“I think just their heart and how much they bought into everything through the tough portions of the season,” Foss said. “It would’ve been easy after some of those games or after some of those practices to be like, ‘Hey, this is not working and we need to try something else.’ But they bought in the entire season and whenever they’ve played together like they did (today), they looked really, really good.

“So I think just that belief in themselves and each other and the system that we put together — all of that played into it.”